


In The Ghetto

by Blackmoondragon1415



Series: Ups and Downs [4]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Also The Start of a Favorite Food, BATIM Role Reversal AU, Blueberries Definitely Have A Positive Association After This, Gen, Henry and the Ink Machine Universe, Homelessness, Pneumonia is a Definite Though, Poor Bendy Has A Rough Winter, Remembering better times, Toon Devil Nearly Experiences Hypothermia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28975281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackmoondragon1415/pseuds/Blackmoondragon1415
Summary: A short story taking place during a cold, wintry night for Bendy following his running away from the studio. Prequel to Ups and Downs, please feel free to leave a review!
Series: Ups and Downs [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2131800





	In The Ghetto

"S-Singin' in…th' rain, jus' s-s-singin' in th' rain…" He couldn't feel his feet. Did he even have feet anymore, and not two solid blocks of inky ice? Bendy had no idea, and he wasn't sure he wanted to look down and find out. Internally, between worrying at the state of his limbs and trying to remember the words to the soundtrack for _Singin' In The Rain_ , the little devil was kicking himself.

At first, Bendy'd been nervous, but had a plan. The plan had been to avoid the heavy snowfall by hiding in the basement of the local library, where he knew they had a boiler that would be running into the wee hours of the night. Simple, right?

But then his backup plan to wait for the janitor to leave for the night had been compromised by the guy in question taking an ungodly long time to lock up. And, while Bendy had initially been content to wait in the shadow of a nearby overhang, that was growing increasingly difficult due to the plummeting temperatures. He'd already snapped out of a near-slumber twice, and the devil was becoming increasingly unnerved by the deadening sensation in his feet, legs, tail, and hands. Not to mention that the inky snot running from his nose was making him feel like a leaky faucet.

To stay awake, he'd tried jumping in place, fidgeting about, and now singing when the movement had made his feet and legs tingle too much as they tried to keep ink circulating.

He didn't exactly have anyone here who could fish him out of the cold if he passed out, he needed to stay on his A-game…

"…Wh-what a g-g-glorious f-feelin', 'm h-happy ag'in..."

The stammering whisper of a song suddenly halted as the devil's frame seized, a sneeze followed by a wet collection of coughs nearly causing him to fold. The abrupt movement made his legs and arms protest, the nearly-frozen muscles zinging uncomfortably as they were forced into new positions.

Groaning through a clogged throat, Bendy tried to straighten up without pulling at his hypothermia-riddled body too much, a few snap realizations going through his mind. He was getting sick, far worse than he'd ever been at the studio, and unless he got himself to warm shelter soon he wasn't sure he was going to last the night.

To hell with the janitor, he wasn't going to die out here.

Hurrying across the snow-slick side street, the devil briefly considered the back door before turning his attention to the wall of the building closest to the ground. Though the snow had started to cover it, Bendy knew that there was a window to the basement in there somewhere. Hopefully it wasn't locked or stuck…

Finding the glass panes, the little devil pushed at the window for a moment, and nearly felt his heart freeze up along with the rest of him as he found he could not move it. Giving it one last, desperate try, Bendy was rewarded when the wood made a brief, crackling crunch before flipping inward. Albeit, his hands went with it and caused his face to smack into the wall, but at least, it was open.

Scrambling through the window was an ordeal in and of itself, given that Bendy felt like he took half the snow in with him. His short fur now thoroughly soaked on top of stiff with cold, the little devil grimaced as he stumbled away from the freezing chill and to the heat source he could feel emanating from somewhere in the room. The room itself was rather dark, though the fire in the boiler was giving off a faint bit of reddish light, giving Bendy something to home in on.

Stopping just inside the ring of heat the metallic hulk wafted off, the little devil sat down and was briefly forced to indulge the spasms that were rattling up from his lungs. The coughs were awful, phlegmy and strong enough to nearly fold Bendy's frame in half as he tried to regroup. Once the fit was done, the small toon took in heavy gulps of air, partially hoping that he wouldn't accidentally trigger another outburst.

But, when nothing else happened, Bendy quietly groaned, the sound a creaking wheeze as his knuckles brushed at the underside of his jaw in an effort to try to clear some of the clogging pressure. Reaching into his jacket pocket, the little devil shakily withdrew a pair of inkwells, placing them in front as he went for the depths of his coat again.

He'd thought to stock up on ink before this entire ordeal started, but Bendy was almost worried that the five inkwells he'd grabbed would not be enough. Shot-gunning the first two, the devil quickly felt himself grow groggy and hurried to open the last three. He nearly upset one with the watery cough that rattled through his frame though he just managed to keep it from spilling, rushing the black liquid to his mouth.

By the time he downed the last, Bendy's vision and head were swimming, the sensations clashing with the phlegmy coating in his throat and lungs. Even as the little devil let himself flop back onto the concrete floor, he felt a cough weakly rattle though his frame. Somehow he managed to turn himself so that he was facing the furnace, the heat licking at his face welcome in his slide down into a medicated slumber.

_It seemed like barely an instant later that he was flying over the floor of a wooden hall, breathing coming in rapid and incensed as his insides burned with temper and shame. In his gloved hands was a worn, white ballet tutu, the toon's little fingers wringing the thing with all the strength he had._

_Finally, Bendy found where he wanted to go, the door to the downstairs break room slamming open as the devil took three steps out onto the landing before he realized that he wasn't alone. Sitting down at one of the tables was Henry, the animator having whirled around at the racket along with Wally, who had sprung up from leaning on his mop to regard the little devil._

_"Bendy?"_

_"Yeesh, kid, what did the door do t'you?"_

_The small toon froze, long enough for Henry to get to his feet and come to the foot of the stairs. Though there were still flickers of emotion licking like fire at his insides and mind, Bendy kept still, partially torn between the desires to scream, to go to Henry because Henry had a way of making bad stuff go away, and to simply let it go because_ don't bother Henry, Henry has enough work, don't make him have more _-._

_"Bendy, is everything alright?" The animator in question asked, the query drawing Bendy back into the moment, and helping him to realize that there were drips of ink starting to frame his eyes, which were blurring with emotionally-charged tears._

_Not trusting his voice to stay steady, the little devil nodded his answer to Henry's question, a faint plan to leave only dashed by the animator's next words._

_"Can you come down here, please?"_

_Well, if he tried to make excuses Bendy was doubly sure his voice would shake, or he'd start crying, or something else humiliating, and Henry was Henry. He didn't like the idea of disappointing Henry any more than he liked the tutu still clenched in his hands._

_So, he didn't. Instead, Bendy shuffled forward and padded down the stairs, his eyeline lowering until all he could see was the white ruffles of the tutu. As his body moved on autopilot, the image stirred up the memories of what had happened only minutes before, of Joey's hand roughly seizing his shoulder and dragging him just out of sight of the other people in the room. Of the studio head's voice growling low and threatening over his head about how_ **he was being an embarrassment, that I know you can do this Bendy, don't you dare pretend that you can't** -.

_But his legs had been hurting, his feet and cloven toes ached in his shoes, and he'd been more than at the end of his rope by the combination of Joey's words and the sheer impossibility of the ballet maneuver the episode called for. Albeit, when this boiling cocktail of emotion began to leak through in the form of dribbling ink and tears, Bendy felt his chin be grabbed, his face yanked up to look Joey in the unforgiving eye. Even still, he remembered exactly what the man had said._

_"Don't waste my time with your bellyaching. Last I checked I didn't make a substandard devil, so buck up and do as you're told, Bendy. You're not leaving this room until I see you pirouetting like a goddamn top."_

_And Joey hadn't even given the small toon a chance to respond, to tell his creator about how everything, particularly his cloven toes, hurt like he'd been poking them with hot irons. Instead, Joey roughly pulled away and caused Bendy's head to jerk with a brief, twinging ache. It was only part of the reason for the wetness that gathered in his pie-cut eyes, a gloved hand hurriedly swiping at the tears before Joey could see, or worse, they could actually fall._

_They were starting to come back, Bendy realized with a snap, the little devil jolting as he noticed a wet blurriness starting to creep in over his vision. Rushing to blink them away before they could actually fall and draw attention, Bendy felt his heart sink at the feeling of ink sliding down around the edges of his pale face. Noticing Henry getting up, the animator hastening over with worry flickering in his eyes, Bendy felt the upset in his head and gut curdle into frustration. Gritting his teeth into a snarl, the small toon threw the crumpled tutu to the bottom of the stairs, jumping on it a few times just for good measure._

_"I hate this, s-stupid thing!" He hollered, the words sounding warped and warbling to his ears, Bendy almost not recognizing the voice speaking them as his own. Still, the anger persisted, taking the driver's seat as he got caught in the act of repeatedly stamping on the white frills, even picking them up again and throwing them into the wall._

_"I-I hate it, I hate it, I hate ballet, I hate dancin', I hate doin' the shorts, an' I HATE THIS STUPID, STUPID TUTU!"_

_The sight of the garment in question lying against the wall just made Bendy's anger grow, the little devil kicking out at it again, only to have his foot miss and rebound off the wall. Given that his feet were only just starting to not feel like he'd been poking them with hot knives, this ended with the little devil falling onto his behind, clutching at the offending limb as his rant descended into teary, pained angrish. The feeling of a hand touching his shoulder gave him something else to lash out at, though when the direction of his swiping hand made him turn around and see who he'd struck, the anger evaporated into something cold and twisting that settled in his stomach._

_Though Henry hardly looked more than slightly perturbed, the fact alone that he hit Henry made Bendy immediately read into the impassive expression, creating hard lines and the beginnings of a frown. As the animator reached out to him again, the paralytic cocktail of shame and fear loosened its hold on his tongue enough that something came tumbling out._

_"…'m s-sorry…"_

_"It's alright, Bendy-."_

_"…no, it's…y-you're mad, I hit you, 'm sorry…"_

_"I'm not mad." Henry evenly rebutted, finally managing to gather the distraught cartoon in his arms and stand, heading back towards the table. "It was an accident, and I accept your apology. There's nothing for me to be mad about."_

_Despite the sound logic, Bendy's mind could only spiral further, harkening to Joey's words ranging_ from give me no trouble and I will make sure you're safe _to_ Henry doesn't need any more trouble, don't you agree, Bendy _?. Though a part of him couldn't help but whisper about how he was only causing problems, that he was in the wrong, that Henry should surely hate him if he didn't already, the little devil couldn't help but lean into the calm safety the animator offered._

_As Henry set him down atop the table, Bendy caught sight of a smear or two of ink on the man's white shirt, the spots resting at about where his head had been. But a stammering apology met an equally calm rebuttal, the animator withdrawing a handkerchief and carefully cleaning the ink and tear streaks from the devil toon's pale face._

_Once the mess was entirely cleared, Bendy caught sight of Wally, the janitor having made his way over to where the crumpled tutu still laid partly against the wall. Catching the shift in attention, Henry followed the little devil's gaze, just in time to see Wally pluck up the garment and stow it with his cleaning supplies. Noticing the pair watching, Wally simply gave them both a cheery grin, and a conspiratorial wink._

_"Don't worry 'bout it, kid. I'll make sure this don't turn up again."_

_Though Bendy could only feel complete gratitude for the janitor, Henry looked a little less thankful. But upon seeing how the promise delighted the dour toon, the animator quietly bit down on any protest._

_"An' what's this about you not likin' dancin', Bendy? Ain'tcha called the dancin' demon?" Wally asked, the questions causing Bendy's happy expression to plummet as he fought the redirection onto his outburst._

_"I…But if 'm not good at ballet, then I can't really be the dancin' demon…"_

_"Gonna stop you right there, kid. Ballet may've been popular ages ago, but it's hardly the be-all-end-all of dancin' now. Henry, that record player still down here?"_

_"Y-Yes, in the closet, I think." The animator stammered, caught off-guard by the change in topic. However, both he and Bendy quickly clued into what Wally was after as the man set his cleaning supplies to the side before pulling out the player and some records to go with it. A jazzy, bouncing tune rapidly filled the room, ringing gaily off the walls and ceiling. Straightening with a flourish, Wally turned to the still-seated Bendy and Henry, the former huddling down as the intent behind the janitor's display became clear._

_"Aw, don't worry, kid. If your feet're botherin' you, well…" Wally started, quickly sweeping across the room and scooping Bendy up off the table. "…we just won't use 'em!"_

_The devil toon gave a breathless gasp as he was swung up into the janitor's arms, Wally spinning him around as he moved in time with the swell of the music. Turning wide eyes up at the freckled, grinning features, Bendy wasn't sure if he was about to be put through another round of something unpleasant. Though, reading into the wary look being beamed his way, Wally kept up an easy-going, carefree grin, carrying the little devil much like a child as he started to swing to the jazzy melody._

_"Hey, don't you worry, kid. You just sit back and watch the master!"_

_Whatever mild paranoia Bendy still had, it was all but completely wiped away in the next few moments. True to his word, Wally did not force him to dance but instead lead him through the movements, swinging the small toon around with enough energy and verve that the little devil felt a smile start to bloom on his face. This was nothing like the slow, dragging, painful ballet lesson that he'd just endured with Joey. This was, almost fun. It felt like playing, a game without rules or goals, the point being to just to try and have a good time. Wally off-key crowing the melody only made the feeling grow and grow, bubbling into a giggle that turned into a full-on, delighted laugh._

_The janitor echoed the mirth, whirling the little toon around as though they were proper dance partners, Bendy's laughing turning into similarly pitched vocals that tried to mirror the tune._

_If this was dancing, then Bendy never wanted to stop. It was like something had clicked, like he'd come home and greeted an old friend he didn't even know existed but somehow they knew everything about each other. It almost stirred something in the little devil's mind, a vague sense of deja-vu as he was swept up into the moment, as something in it became imposed atop something else, something_ _**hazier, but blurringly colorful, the world swirling and twirling around Bendy as the upbeat jazz turned into something slower, quieter, and more like that of a lullaby.** _

_**Wally's freckled, smiling face turned into something darker, less human but with glowing, multiple sets of eyes that peered quietly down at him. The inky-black 'features' were framed by a rainbow halo of color, the bands flickering and pulsating with life and energy. The devil still whirled, but the motions felt less…physical, more like he was in a dream, and could float about however he wanted.** _

_**The music was a soft, lulling thing, Bendy feeling more than knowing the manner in which he could move, the 'steps' that tugged at his feet. Glancing upward, he caught sight of the glimmering face overhead, the lower half parting in a grin that shone like a brighter version of the flickering lights all around. As he spun, it did too, a band of color that whirled and whirled…** _

…The next thing Bendy realized, he was lying on a moderately warm concrete floor, his face turned in the direction of the glowing fire contained within the ancient metal boiler, and an empty inkwell clenched in his hand. Regard the dusty ceiling, the little devil fought to remember what he'd been doing, how he'd ended up here. It was coming back in slow trickles, standing out in the snow, growing sicker and sicker as the temperature dropped, more or less breaking into the library basement for a warm place to sleep…

A sudden, loud growl came from his middle, Bendy unable to stifle a groan at the very prevalent feeling of not having eaten for what seemed like a long while. His stomach almost felt like it was caving in on itself, hungry to the point of being painful. For a brief instant the little devil wondered how long he'd been down here, before putting it aside in favor of trying to hunt up some food.

Thankfully the window he'd jimmied open was still ajar, Bendy using a pipe on the wall to clamber his way up and shimmy through the opening. The snow still littering the ground chilled his hands even through the gloves, the small toon rubbing them together for a moment as he tried to plan around the still-roiling hunger pangs.

Well, there was one place he could definitely try, it wasn't too far at least. He just hoped she'd have something; with the weather being the way it was he wouldn't be too surprised if she was staying in too. Shivering from both the cold and lack of sustenance in his system, Bendy tried to totter down the side street as quietly and quickly as he could.

* * *

"Sarah, I don't think we need to heat the whole outdoors, dear." Daniel's voice eased down from its semi-joking tone as he caught sight of the faint stiffness in his wife's shoulders, the hint helping him guess that the blueberry pie she'd left on the window sill wasn't for the bakery.

"Still no sign?"

"…No, no he hasn't come. The apple pie I left went cold, I had to put it away." Sarah's tone was hushed, though her movements were steady as she dried her hands on a towel.

"Maybe we should say something to Green, he could have the rest of the boys out looking…"

It had been about two days now, and the last she'd seen of the little vagabond had been before the snowfall. While the idea was a sound one Sarah couldn't help the thought that she should give it at least one more try…

"If this one goes cold too, then we'll call on him." She conceded with a cautious hope, quietly accepting a brief hug and kiss her husband pressed to her cheek, his way of both completing the apology and offering a measure of support. Initially, when bringing up the little runaway that had taken to her pies, Daniel had wanted to bring the boy to the police and see about getting him some 'proper help'.

In all honesty, Sarah had been considering the prospect herself, but the child was too skittish to really pin down, and part of her wanted the boy to at least come to trust her enough that she could explain rather than simply ambushing him with the town's police. But, there simply hadn't been enough time or opportunity, the pies would often be gone in the span of a few seconds with the most she'd catch of the little thief being a small, pale face and a ragged, too-large coat.

The snow had come on much faster this year than she thought it would, the poor woman kept up with thoughts of wondering where the boy was, was he staying warm, did he have anywhere to go at all? These thoughts only grew as the temperature stayed low, and two days passed without a hint of the little vagabond. But, on the few runs she and Daniel had made to town, there had been nothing, no word of a child found frozen on the streets, no word of him having been picked up, so she clung to the frail hope that he'd hidden away somewhere and avoided the worst of the weather.

Sarah turned back to the sink as Daniel walked out, presumably to the front room to finish reading his paper. She would likely join him, but she still had to clean up the pans from her baking. Ignoring the draft blowing around her ankles, she made to grab a rag and the soap in order to get started.

Though, as she moved to turn the water on, a faint shuffling of noise came from the direction of the open window. Despite the impulse, Sarah didn't turn around, knowing that if it was the little vagabond that he'd run the instant she tried to lay eyes on him.

If it was a squirrel, or a raccoon…well, she supposed she'd know in a few moments…

The faint sound of the pie tin being dragged across the wood dashed that particular thought; Sarah was fairly certain that a squirrel certainly wouldn't be making off with the metal tin, or trying to move it so carefully. The clear effort at being quiet also ruled out a raccoon.

Turning around, Sarah immediately noticed that the steaming pie that she'd left on the sill was gone. Peering out, she caught sight of small, familiar tracks in the snow leading up to the window and away, off somewhere by the main road.

Even though she'd hardly seen the culprit, and for all she knew there could have been more than one little thief roaming the town, Sarah couldn't help the relief that bloomed in her chest, making her heart feel ten pounds lighter as she finally reached out and drew the window closed.

* * *

It was more than a little challenging getting himself back into the basement with the pie, but through sheer determination Bendy managed it. Distantly he was thankful that he'd not scuffed the tin as he did have the full intention of bringing it back to the nice woman that could have only left this out for him, but for the moment the thought was smothered between the wonderful scent pervading his nostrils and the complaints of his stomach as it demanded food.

One thing was for sure, blueberry pie had never tasted so good. Bendy ended up nearly shoving his face into the pie to quell the cavernous hunger roaring through his insides. It seemed like barely an eyeblink later that his belly was full, though there was still a good bit of fruit filling and crust clinging to the inside of the tin.

He'd save it for later, the thought dizzily playing through his mind as he set the decimated pie to the side and lay down on the concrete floor. Wiping halfheartedly at the smears of blueberry staining his face, Bendy let his eyes flutter closed, perfectly willing to doze away the last few vestiges of the harrowing experience. Despite the occasional hiccup rattling through his frame, the little devil was quick to sink into a light sleep.

_And he shifted, feeling out the warmth around him. Bendy was almost a little confused by the sudden presence of soft heat on all sides, though for a moment his foggy mind couldn't remember why. Though at his feeble stirring, one side pressed in closer with a familiar, worried whine, the sound teasing some bit of memory from Bendy's delirious brain._

_Despite the noise he made sounding barely anything like the wolf's name and more like he was gargling on an overabundance of toothpaste, Boris barely wasted a moment before speaking up._

_"Ben?"_

_Finally managing to pry open his eyes, Bendy watched the whirls of color as they grew focused, Boris's face swimming into clarity overhead. Another noise, like a chair being moved across a wooden floor, sounded right before someone else stuck their head into view, the little devil quickly able to place the features; Henry._

_"'ey…" Bendy hummed, a faint smile pulling at the corners of his mouth at the sight of his friends. Though Boris did indeed grin back, the wolf's eyes still held an odd amount of worry, and Henry expression was a near match. What was wrong? Had something happened?_

_Though judging from the fact that the toon devil felt both exhausted and slightly…liquid-y about his nasal cavity, he could only imagine why that might be. Especially given that, now that he was thinking on it, the last thing he remembered before ending up here was getting up from a breakfast he hadn't had the stomach to eat. The feeling of cold air against his face also told him that Joey hadn't managed to get the heat going for the winter yet, either, which had left both him and Boris in a cold office for the past few nights._

_And he'd definitely woken up with a runny nose and blooming headache this morning._

_Well, if there was one thing that Bendy could say about his current predicament, it was that it was making more and more sense once he thought on what lead up to it. Course, that still left him with an upset wolf and worried animator to deal with. Cripes._

_"How're you feeling, Bendy?" Henry asked, the question drawing the little devil up out of his thoughts and groggily back into the land of the regretfully awake. Swallowing round a syrupy feeling in his throat, Bendy did try to formulate an answer._

_"Drippy. Head's feelin' kinda fuzzy."_

_"Well, you are running a fever." Henry's response though tinged with worry did have enough humor in it that Bendy didn't feel too guilty spring-boarding off and continuing the conversation._

_"Oh, that's all?"_

_The weak attempt at a joke did get a slight snort from Henry, as well as a soft chuckle mixed with a worried noise from Boris. The wolf huddled in closer, Bendy briefly letting himself soak in the warmth of the fur-covered hug. However, as he caught sight of Henry moving away, Bendy tried to follow the animator, a hand throwing itself from the warm cocoon to reach out to him._

_"It's alright, Bendy, it's alright, I'm here." Henry called back, the animator's face reappearing a moment or two later. The reason for his abrupt departure became clear as Bendy spotted an inkwell in his hand. Mystery solved, the small toon easily let Boris rebundle him back up into the blankets, the warmth easily chasing away the shivers that had begun to set in._

_"I-Is Joey gonna get the heat goin' soon?" Bendy asked as Henry eased him up, the animator keeping one of the blankets between his hand and the little devil's back. Probably because he was hardly much warmer than the room, as Bendy could guess from the fact that Henry was wearing his winter coat and scarf inside._

_"I think the other animators were asking him about it, so I'd imagine yes." The somewhat distracted answer came as Bendy quietly gulped down the contents of the inkwell, the toon and animator paying only partially attention to the conversation as they became caught up in their efforts to handle the task at hand._

_"…D'ya think it'll be soon?" Boris murmured, almost unwilling to interrupt though he could not silence the question. The soft interjection snagged both Henry and Bendy's attention, the wolf shrinking down at the sudden focus on him._

_"I-It's gotta be soon, right? I don' want you t'pass out again, Bendy."_

_Pass out? When had he…_

_-Boris, 'm fine, jus' not hungry." He mumbled, shuffling his way to the door of the break room as he fought on putting one foot in front of the other. The room was spinning so badly though that he only just found purchase on the doorframe before his legs gave out, the world around him winking away into a fading blur of dull sound and motion-_

_…Oh. With a lack of anything to say, Bendy simply huddled into the physical shelter Boris offered, trying to reassure the wolf with just his presence alone. As he handed the inkwell back to Henry, the loose hug tightened for a moment, a faint whine rumbling through Boris's chest._

_Though the little devil could feel the ink starting to take effect, he tried to reach out to the pair, one arm shakily snaking up to try to ruffle the fur on Boris's head as his other hand followed through to rest on Henry's arm. Just as the office flickered away into a dull haze, Bendy could feel one hand becoming wrapped in one of Boris's longer hands, the other gently held in one of Henry's cooler fingers. However, there was a faint noise twinging through his ears, making him frown as he couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from. A sort of…scratching…?_

The scratching stayed even as the dream warped and faded, the little devil finding himself lying on his back, his face turned towards the decimated blueberry pie just in time to see a little ball of brown fur pull itself up over the lip of the metal tin.

"NO, that is MINE, an' you're not eatin' it-!" The little devil hollered, snatching up the pie and holding it over his head. At the loud holler, the mouse raced back off into the shadows, the sight briefly teasing some measure of guilt from Bendy. After all, the mouse certainly didn't ask to be hungry.

Though the thought of giving up any part of the delicious pie, the only food he'd had in days, was nearly unthinkable, the small toon still quietly broke off a few pieces of the crust, scooting away so he could lay the tiny offering a sufficient distance from himself. Going back to the rest of the pie, Bendy sat with the tin in his lap, watching out of the corner of his eye how a small, brown shape darted from the shadows to investigate the bit of berry-stained bread.

Quietly pawing at the remains of the pie, Bendy planned out his next move. He'd have to get more ink, that much was a given, but the first thing he wanted to do was to see whether or not he could hitch a ride somewhere warmer, where he wouldn't be in danger of being snowed in.

Right after he returned the pie tin, of course.

Shoving away a brief flare of homesickness at the thought of remembered warmth and safety, of caring hands and encompassing hugs, the little devil quietly huddled in the cloud of heat given off by the furnace, tucking into the last remnants of the blueberry pie.


End file.
